A changed life
by Futureauthor2000
Summary: The team saved a girl from her abusive father. What happens when her abuser tries to regain her trust?
1. Chapter 1

"Dad, I'm sorry!"

I raised my hand to defend myself, only to be knocked down.

"Sorry,"he scoffed," your sorry. Okay, that's great sorry makes everything better. Sorry puts food on the table, and gets back the time I had to spend cooking, after a long day at work. I come home expecting a nice, warm meal, and I see you, asleep on the desk that I bought you!"

"I had to Study! I have a huge test tomorrow that's worth half my grade! I never meant to fall asleep! It just happened!"

"It just happened," he mocked,"please daddy don't hurt me. I know I'm a brat, and I should have been aborted before I could ruin your life, but please I have to study, so I can leave you to fend for yourself."

"I can do better! I can make you dinner tomorrow! Please!"

I shuddered when he took his belt off. He was going to add more scars on top of the ones he had left before. He got his knife, and cut off my shirt.

Don't scream. Don't cry. You can cry later. When he can't see you. I grabbed my arms, and locked my jaw. I could feel the leather tearing through the air right before it hit my skin.

I braced myself for the next blow, but instead of the sick hiss of air, I heard my father grunting, right before he hit the floor. I looked up, to see a muscular man on top of him.

"You seriously beat your own daughter? I don't care how badly we screwed you. You don't take it out on your own kid!"

I felt a hand on my shoulder, and quickly turned to see who it was.

"It'okay," she said while handing me her jacket,"We're here to help you."

She had long black hair and a British accent.

"He's out," said the man, nonchalantly,"let's go."

We ran out the front door, to see a black van.

They opened the door to reveal three other people.

"Seriously? You took the girl?" said an older man, with short hair.

"He was hitting her,"the muscular man said, defending his decision,"We could just leave her."

We had already gotten in the van, and they were trying to decide what to do with me.

"Why don't we take her to the police," said a young blonde woman," don't they usually help with these things?"

"Parker, babe,"said the black man in the driver's seat,"let's think about what we will tell the police. So, officer, I know that everyone here had a criminal record, and yes we did con a man out of his life savings, and yes we did break into his home, and knock him out, but I promise you we did not kidnap her."

Criminals? Okay, maybe it was stupid to leave with a group of people I didn't know, but at the time I had to get away from a man who was hitting me. Now I was in a van with give criminals who had apparently stolen from my father.

"Who are you people?" Was all I could ask.

"Rachel,"said the woman from before.

"How do you know my name?! What is going on?!"

"Calm down,"the muscular man seamed a little annoyed," We're not going to hurt you. I'm Elliot. This is Sophie, Parker, Hardison, and Hate. We run a company that helps victims of cons get their money back."

"But, you stole from my father. He wasn't a conartist. Was he?"

"Actually he was," said Nate," he was selling a set of books for single parents. He would give them one book, and then after they had payed hundreds of dollars, expecting more books to come, but they never did. He conned thousands of families across the country."

"Oh my God," a horrible truth just washed over me," this is all my fault."

"No it's not Rachel," Sophie reasured me,"you had nothing to do with it."

"Yes it is," I insisted," he always took me to his book signings when I didn't have school. He always sold more when I was there. I'm the reason he was able to steal from these people."


	2. Chapter 2

We had arrived at their headquarters which was a an apartment right above a bar. I knew my father wouldn't just let me leave him, but the idea of spending just one night without him was to tempting to pass up.

"She can sleep on the couch tonight," said Nate," we'll figure out what to do with her I'm the morning."

"Elliot," Sophie stopped him," can you look at Rachel's wounds, to see of there's anything you can do to help her?"

"Don't bother," I said," the scars have been there since I was five. They're not going away."

"Just let me look at the one you got tonight. I'll see if I can make it go away."

I slowly took of the jacket, and handed it back to Sophie. The front half of my shirt was still there, but it was dangling by my shoulders. I faced my back to him, and prepared for what ever was to come.

He was just putting cream on the scars, but I could allready feel the pain going away.

"What did he do this to for?"

"I'm supposed to have his dinner ready for him when he gets home from work. I was going to study for about thirty minutes, and get started. I don't know how, but I let myself fall asleep," I shuddered," when I woke up, he was home, and he had already made dinner. He always hits me if it's not done by the time he gets home. You can imagine how he was when he saw I never even started. Its all my fault."

"None of this is your fault," he said," your father's had a rough week. That doesn't give home the right to treat you like his punching bag. Where's your mom?"

"She died giving birth to me. That's why he hates me. He says I killed her," I said matter of factly.

"Do you have any other family? Anyone who could take you in?"

"Just my grandmother, and she hates me even more that my father does. Every time she comes to Thanksgiving she tells me to eat a meal, that I cooked, outside because ' she can't eat and look at me at the same time.'"

"We'll figure something out," he seemed to say to himself more than to me.

Parker came in holding a Brown blanket.

"Sophie wanted me to bring you this," she said.

"Just put it on the couch," Elliot said.

He carefully put a bandage on the fresh wound."

"Try not to touch it tonight. We'll see what it looks like tomorrow. Get some rest."

"I have an extra shirt that I keep her if you want to use it," Parker offered.

"Thank you both," I said.

"No problem," Elliot told me," If you need anything tonight, don't be afraid to ask."

"I'll be fine," I assured him.

Parker had returned, before I knew she had left. She was holding a plan white T-shirt.

She handed it to me, and I quickly put it on.

"Goodnight," she said, as Elliot turned off the lights.

Oh God. I hated the dark. When I was little my dad would lock me in a closet for hours. Maybe my fear was stupid, but so was being imprisoned for three hours because I spilled some milk.I tried to sleep, but it just wouldn't come.

I was trying to just lie still with my eyes closed, when I heard the whispers.

"She can't stay here," Nate said.

"She can't go back to her dad either,"Elliot argued," that son of a bitch will kill her."

"What if we just dropped her off near a police station? She can go in and say someone attacked her father, and she got scared and ran away," he thought.

"She could still end up back with her father,"Sophie reminded him,"and what happens when the police want to know who attacked her father, or when they want to know where she was all night? Or when they catch us dropping her off on some security camera?"


	3. Chapter 3

I must have fallen asleep, because when I woke up, I was surrounded by delicious smells. I got up and followed the scent to the kitchen, where the team was. Elliot was making breakfast.

"Hey,"Hardison greeted me,"look who finally decided to wake up?"

"I've got your plate right here,"Elliot said, while putting a plate filled with Panckakes, bacon and eggs.

"Thank you," I said quietly.

I took a small bite of Panckakes, and then I practically inhaled the rest.

"Whoah, easy there,"Elliot said,"I get that your you're in a room of con artists, but I promise you no one is going to take your food."

I quickly realised that I was being rude.

"Sorry,"I said quickly," but this is great."

"I think you should go to the police station," Nate said suddenly," tell them what your father has been doing to you, when you saw your chance to escape you took it. You slept out behind a building. You didn't get a good enough look at the attacker. They'll find you a new home."

"I can't do that," I said.

"Why not?"

He was clearly ready to get rid of me.

"My dad had a lot of employees that rely on his money to get by. If he goes to jail, they will all loose their jobs. They will do whatever they can to get him out. They will make the social worker's life help until he or she says that everything is fine. Then my dad will make my life hell until he finds out who you are. I'd like to think that I'm strong enough to keep you all from him, but I can't make that promise. When he finds you he will make your life hell."

"Rachel,"Sophie said," you don't need to be scared of your father anymore. The police will help you."

"That's exactly what my teacher told me in third grade when I told her. The social worker's house was broken into, while her kids were home alone, they threatened to kill them if she didn't say everything was fine. When my dad regained custody, he held me down, while my grandmother cut my back, multiple times with a dull knife. When she was done, she started sprinkling salt water into the wounds until I gave up the name of the woman who reported him. When I confessed, they killed her dog, hacked into her bank account, and registered her as a sex offender. I can't let something like that happen to all of you,"I felt the silence separating us.

"He can't do any of that now," Harrison told me,"these people were helping your father because he had power. He had power because he had money. We took all his money away, so he now has no power. We don't have to worry about any of them."

"Maybe you're right,"I admitted," maybe I am being paranoid."

"There's a police station a few blocks from here. I can write down the directions for you, but once you see the police station throw it away. You need to make it look like you just found it without any help from us," Nate said.

"I'll be fine as soon as I have the directions," I assured him.

"Great,"he said while sliding a piece of paper to me," good luck."

I could almost hear sincerity in his voice. I took the directions, and looked up at the rest of the team.

"Thank you,"I said," all of you."

I turned around, and walked out the door, reminding myself to never look back. These people had shown me the only kindness I had experienced, since my third grade teacher tried to help me. I was almost out of the building, when I heard a voice.

Rachel," Sophie stopped me," wait."

I turned around, and she handed me a card. It had her name and number on it.

"If you ever need anything," she said," please don't hesitate to call."

I slid the card into my back pocket," thank you."


	4. Chapter 4

I should have known it wouldn't work. I should have known it was too easy. I regretted leaving as soon as I felt the blade at my side.

I turned my head only to have a hand cover my mouth.

"Keep your mouth shut and come with me."

I froze. It was the voice of my grandmother. The same woman who tortured me for telling my teacher about the abuse. The same woman who helped my father lock me in the closet. The same woman who made me eat holiday meals outside. The same woman who blamed me for killing her daughter.

"When we get to the police station. I'm going to tell them that you got scared when that man was attacking your father and ran to my house. You will answer all their questions about him. If you say a word about your discipline I will gut you like a deer."

She pulled me into a nearby car, and shoved me in. She walked around the car and got in the driver's seat. She drove silently. Threats were dangerous. Silence was deadly.

"I'm so disappointed in you," she said finally,"a group of ruffians break into your home, they beat your father. And you leave with them. After all we've done for you."

"You mean the beatings, whipping, and long nights in the dark closet. Your right. Thank you so much,"I said sarcastically.

I was immediately slapped across the face.

"You watch your mouth," she warned," I mean the food on the table, the roof over your head, and the clothes on your back."

"You mean the food I cook, the house I clean, and the clothes that hide my scars."

I didn't know where this need to fight had come from, but I didn't want to loose it. I was making up for fifteen years of crawling on my belly, and I was going to make up for every one of them.

"You wouldn't last ten minutes on your own,"she snapped back," you ran off with criminals last night."

"Those criminals did more for me in one night than you did my whole life."

She looked like she was trying to decide what do do to make my life even worse.

"Change of plans. We are going to go to the police station. You will tell them that you never saw the people who hurt your father. When your father is sent home we will go to my house and take care of them l our selves," she said.

She was going to kill them. It was all my fault. I should have kept my mouth shut. We parked at the police station, and walked right in. It was like she wasn't carrying a knife, and I wasn't covering for my abuser.

She pulled me over to the front desk, and spoke to the officer.

"My name is Anna Sullivan. My son in law is John Orlando. Last night he was attacked in his home in front of my granddaughter. We need to know which hospital he was sent to."

"Yes of course,"the officer said.

He typed something into a computer, and then looked up.

"Your son in law is being treated at Stillwater medical center. I'll call the detectives working his case so they can talk to your granddaughter,"he said.

We were told to sit down and wait for the detectives to arrive. My grandmother kept her hand on mine. To anyone else it would look like she was comforting me. It was only between us where that would be interpreted as a sign of hostility.

"Rachel Orlando?"

I looked up to see a young woman standing in front of me.

"Yes," I said quietly.

"My name is detective Jennings. My partner and I are trying to find the man who hurt your dad. Can we talk privately?"

My grandmother hesitated, then took her hand off of mine.

"I'll be right out here when your ready," she said like an actual loving grandmother.

Oooooooooo

Nate had kept his head down arou d the rest of his team. They all disagreed with his decision about Rachel, but he knew he was right. There was no way a kid like that could stay with them any longer than necessary. They were a team of criminals! R he fact that any father would treat their kid like that was disgusting to him, but they had given her a chance to get out of his house, and start a knew life. That was all they could do.

"Hey guys!"Hardison called,"you need to see this!"


End file.
